In printing press operations, whether in offset printing or letter press printing, the various blanket rollers and cylinders of the press are covered with excess ink and lint at the conclusion of the printing operation. This excess ink must be removed and the rollers and cylinders cleaned in order to prepare the press for further printing. Conventionally, naphtha or similar cleaning fluids have been used to clean the rollers. However, such cleaning fluids have not been entirely satisfactory because of the large quantities of naphtha required to clean the rollers. Besides, these fluids are pollutants and present serious health hazards, particularly since they must be used in relatively large amounts. Moreover, these fluids are ineffective for the removal of glaze and lint with which the rollers are coated as a result of the printing operations thus requiring a separate glaze removing fluid for complete and effective cleaning of the press and its rollers.
Cleansing compositions have also been employed for the removal of undesirable stains and markings from various surfaces such as floor tiles, walls, sinks, outer surfaces of machineries, including printing presses, terrazzo, bricks, ceramics and the surfaces of a host of other similar products. Frequently, it is desired or necessary to restore the original finish or appearance of such surfaces and the cleansing composition must be effective for such restoration purposes. One cleansing composition for the removal of stains and undesirable markings from hard surfaces is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,880. The compositions disclosed in said patent comprises pine oil, ammonia and a bleaching agent, the balance being primarily water.
An ink removing composition is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,226 which comprises a glycol ether, isopropyl acetate and a hydrocarbon-soluble liquid surfactant. The compositions disclosed in this patent is used for ink removal from natural and synthetic fabrics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,597 discloses a printing press blanket cleaner which removes ink, dust or lint from blanket cylinders of an off set printing press. The cleaner described in this patent is a mechanical cleaner involving the use of a fluid cylinder which periodically urges a brush against the blanket cylinder and retracts the brush from the cylinder to effect the removal of ink, dust or lint from the blanket cylinders. So far as it is known, there is no cleansing composition which can be effectively used for both ink and glaze removal from blanket cylinders and rollers in a printing press operation. Moreover, naphtha and other hydrocarbon fluids used for ink removal present potential danger to their volatility inherent flammability and adverse environmental impact.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a cleansing composition for use in the removal of ink and glaze from the blanket rollers of a printing press.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a cleansing composition which is useful for the removal of undesirable stains and surface markings from various surfaces, including hard surfaces such as floor tiles, terrazzo, bricks, ceramics, sinks and the like.
It is still another object of this invention to provide such cleansing compositions which are even effective by a simple one step application.
The foregoing and other objects and features of this invention will be further described in the ensuing detailed description.